/ / News
20.04.2012

Belarus to reduce taxes to 26% of GDP by 2015

MINSK, 20 April (BelTA) – Taxes will be reduced down to 26% of GDP in Belarus by 2015, Deputy Minister for Taxes and Duties Ella Selitskaya said at the conference “Tax legislation 2012: first comments” on 20 April, BelTA has learnt.

“By 2015 the tax burden should be reduced to 26% of GDP. The revenue side of the budget should finance all the adopted government programs,” Ella Selitskaya said.

Belarus has been reforming the tax system for several years already. This allowed abolishing 26 taxes, simplifying collection of major taxes, extending tax payment periods, reducing the number of tax declarations, introducing e-declarations.

“These measures allowed considerably reducing the tax burden on the economy. The share of tax revenues in GDP fell from 35.2% in 2007 to 26.8% in 2011,” she said. Belarus keeps optimizing the tax system taking into consideration the experience of other countries and peculiarities of the national economy, she added.

The country aims to boost economic activity by reducing burden on business. This includes not only tax burden, but also administrative burden.

Belarus has started working on the tax legislation for 2013 that will be based on Directive No. 4.